Download Syllabus with Timeline here

Integrating Critical Thinking Skills into the Exploration
of Culture in an EFL Setting Syllabus -
Massive Open Online Course

Summer Semester June 1 - August 24, 2020

Course Overview

Description

The exploration of culture in an EFL setting requires helping students engage in authentic situations to develop the ability to navigate across a variety of cultures. This intercultural ability requires language choices and awareness of oneself as a cultural being. It also requires critical thinking skills, which are themselves partially culturally defined. This MOOC presents participants with a working definition of culture and tools for analyzing, understanding, and negotiating differences between cultures. Participants explore what critical thinking is and why it is necessary for the development of intercultural competence. With a view toward preparing teachers to implement culture and critical thinking lessons into their current teaching contexts, participants of this MOOC will explore activities for teaching and evaluating culture and critical thinking.

Learning Objectives and Learner Outcomes

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Define critical thinking
• Describe themselves as cultural beings in relationship to their own and other cultures
• Develop their own beliefs about the teaching of culture in their context
• Learn and teach intercultural competence by practicing observation, multiple perspective analysis, and self-reflection
  
  

Expectations and Grading

Expectations

This course was designed to be taken over a five-week period, with participants working on and off line between 3 and 5 hours every week. To allow flexibility in scheduling, this MOOC is open for 12 weeks, from June 1, 2020 to August 24, 2020. Participants are responsible for their own participation, and you may complete course assignments at any time during these 12 weeks. The only part of this MOOC that is monitored by official facilitators is the Content Support Discussion Board, where you may post questions about the content. You are also welcome, as a MOOC participant, to answer any questions posted there that you are able to answer.

Technical Support

For technical support, please view the Technical Support content page.

Grading

Participants work through the MOOC in a linear fashion: in order to advance to the next activity, a participant needs to have completed previous ones. You are, however, welcome to return to previous readings and activities, and you are encouraged to return to discussion boards for further discussion. You must earn 70% or higher on each quiz in order to advance to the next activity. You may retake quizzes to try to earn a higher score.

Assessment and Certification

Participants who complete all required activities and earn 70% or higher on the graded quizzes, before August 24, 2020, will receive a certificate and a digital badge.

Netiquette

A MOOC is a very special encounter. Its participants are from diverse cultures from all over the world, and their interaction happens entirely online, without the direct supervision of an instructor. The quality of our online interactions will be much higher if everyone follows certain basic rules of etiquette – or in our case (online), netiquette.

1. Try to be clear and direct
   Make sure that your content title reflects the content of your post and that your post is succinct and direct.
2. Make it easier for colleagues to read your comments
   • Put a blank space at the beginning of a message and between paragraphs.
   • Be brief and specific. This is especially important in Massive Open Online Courses which have thousands of participants. When writing a contribution, try to keep it within a 100 word limit.
3. Be constructive
   Respond to colleagues’ postings or comments in an encouraging and supportive tone. Think before you write or respond. Any criticism should be constructive—if in doubt, think about how you would feel reading a posting.
4. Be open to differences in opinion
   Be open to other people's opinions and try not to get emotional if someone disagrees with you. Make your learning experience a constructive and positive one by avoiding ‘flaming’. For example, capitals can be interpreted as shouting. Think before you push the ‘send’ button. Words are powerful and can hurt; avoid anything which could be misinterpreted in any way.
5. Accept others
   Accept your peers’ differences, e.g., cultural and language differences. You are part of a community which means caring about your own progress and that of your colleagues’.
6. Cite other people's work
   If you use a quote or reference in your post; make sure that you cite it or provide a link to it.
7. No spamming
   Please don’t send advertisements to your peers or use your peers’ emails in any way other than how they intend it to be used.
   
   

Download Syllabus with Timeline here
Download Unit 1 Packet
Download Unit 2 Packet
Download Unit 3 Packet
Download Unit 4 Packet
Download Unit 5 Packet